President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo met with Freeport McMoRan Chairman Ricard Adkerson at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Washington DC, USA, on November 14, 2023. During the meeting, Jokowi welcomed discussions on the increase of Indonesia’s stake in PT Freeport Indonesia (PTFI) from the current 51% to 61%, along with the extension of the mining permit that has reached the final stage.
“I am pleased to hear that discussions on adding 10 percent of shares in Freeport and extending the mining permit for 20 years have reached the final stage,” said Jokowi.
The 7th President of Indonesia hopes that the addition of Freeport shares can be completed by the end of November this year.
In a separate statement after the meeting, Acting Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment, Erick Thohir, assessed that the relationship between Indonesia and the United States (US) is continually improving, especially in the field of trade.
“If we look, especially our trade surplus with America has reached almost US$ 16 billion, and its growth in recent years has been rapid. American investment in Indonesia is now number four, which has never happened before,” he said.
Therefore, Erick mentioned that this is the basis for the Head of State to continue to encourage US investment in Indonesia, including from Freeport McMoRan.
“Our state-owned enterprise already controls 51%,” he added.
Erick further revealed that the meeting between President Jokowi and Freeport McMoRan’s CEO also discussed the downstreaming activities carried out by Freeport.
He stated that Freeport is no longer just engaged in gold and copper mining; they have also built smelters to process these minerals.
“This is an investment that we downstream, which was originally purely gold and copper mining, and now it has started to be transformed into industrialization by opening a smelter in Surabaya,” he added.
Erick also disclosed that in the meeting, Freeport expressed its commitment to build another smelter in a different location in Indonesia, particularly in Fakfak Regency, West Papua.
“Not only in Surabaya, Freeport has a commitment to build a smelter in Fakfak, Papua,” he added.
Erick evaluated that several matters discussed in the meeting were very positive for increasing investment that would impact the improvement of the welfare of the Indonesian people.
“These are the positive things that were conveyed to continue increasing foreign investment to create jobs in Indonesia, as the President aspires,” Erick concluded.
Accompanying the President in the meeting were Acting Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investment Erick Thohir, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arifin Tasrif, and Indonesian Ambassador to the United States Rosan Roeslani. Also present in the meeting was the CEO of PT Freeport Indonesia, Tony Wenas.
